Professor Alan Duncan named 2023 recipient of Austin Holmes Award

Professor Alan Duncan, Director of the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, has been named the 2023 recipient of the prestigious Austin Holmes Award.

The Austin Holmes Award recognises distinguished Western Australian economists and is given out by the Economics Society of Australia Western Australia Branch.

“It is especially gratifying to receive this recognition from my peers,” Professor Duncan said. “I am extremely proud to be recognised alongside such distinguished past winners, and sincerely thank the Economics Society of Australia WA for this singular honour.”

The Austin Holmes Award recognises Professor Duncan’s substantial contribution to economics in Western Australia over the course of his more than decade-long time in the state, leading the independent economics and social research group, the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre at Curtin University.

Reflecting on this latest award, Curtin University’s Pro Vice-Chancellor Faculty of Business and Law, Professor Vanessa Chang, acknowledged Professor Duncan’s significant impact on economic discourse in Western Australia.

“I am delighted that John Curtin Distinguished Professor Alan Duncan has been recognised as a leader in the field of economics with this award,” Professor Chang said.

“Through his commitment to research, and his demonstrated impact on social and economic policy, Alan has built an outstanding international reputation for excellence.

“On behalf of colleagues within the Faculty of Business and Law, I offer my sincerest congratulations to Alan on this well-deserved achievement.”

Prior to joining the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre in 2010, Professor Duncan was previously Director of the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling and Head of the University of Nottingham’s School of Economics.

Professor Duncan’s research is motivated by a passion to influence public debates on economic and social issues. He has an established international reputation for academic scholarship in the development of econometric and policy evaluation methods, and their application to economic, social, health and public policy issues. He ranks among the top 5 per cent of economists worldwide and was awarded the prestigious Frisch Medal of the Econometric Society in 2000 for the best applied economics article to be published in the world-leading journal Econometrica.